Magaqa trial to be heard this month

ALTHOUGH police minister Bheki Cele yesterday triumphantly announced that the alleged killers of former ANC youth league secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa will have their day in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on July 19, Magaqa’s family and friends are not happy.

They want to know who ordered the July 2017 hit, how it was hatched, and why.

Cele revealed the latest developments during a press conference in Durban where the inter-ministerial task team established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 to probe the wave of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, was giving an update.

Among those already in the dock for Magaqa’s murder are Mbulelo Mpofana, Sibonelo Myeza and Mlungisi Ncalane; the latter two are former SAPS officers (14 other SAPS officers are allegedly involved in political killings) who have since been dismissed while in custody.

This would not be a first appearance for the suspects. The director of public prosecutions in KZN, advocate Elaine Zungu, confirmed to The Mercury that this case had already been heard by the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court.

Specifically, on the issue of Magaqa, Cele said: “The murder case of the former ANC Youth League secretary-general will also commence on July 19, 2021. The task team arrested eight suspects, and five of them have been charged with his murder; one died and charges were withdrawn against two suspects.”

The spokesperson of the Magaqa family, Lwazi Magaqa, said it was worrying for them that the case had unexplained delays.

He added that it was not only them who wanted answers, but also the community of Mzimkhulu where Magaqa was a councillor, and the country at large.

Cele said that another high-profile case, that of Qashana Mchunu, a former ANC councillor and CR17 loyalist who was gunned down in Pietermaritzburg in May 2018, would also get under way in July.